Cassie + Matt: 9.15.13

It's so crazy to me that my little sister is now married and there are no more "Pelton Girls"... definitely the end of an era in a big way. Cassie and Matt had a beautiful day and our prayers were answered that the weather cooperated too. As with anything, Cassie and my mom put a lot of work into the planning and executing all their ideas and it turned out beautiful. Cassie and Matt were beaming and seemed truly happy all day.

They were sealed in the Draper temple and then there was a luau luncheon at a church building in west Jordan and then the reception that night in South Jordan at a cute old house. The luau had all traditional Tongan food; it was fun to see more of Matt's culture represented throughout the day.

It was a long but not too rushed day and everything went really smoothly. The kids did really well, albeit with some slight bribing coaxing during pictures. The reception had a vintage chic feel and everything turned out so cute. They even had little games for everyone to play in the lawn. They also had a "cereal bar" opposed to a candy bar for their favors because of their first date and their re-created first date engagement involving cereal.

Caitlin couldn't wait to dance at the reception and the moment the music started going she was out there and didn't leave until it was over. At one point she even claimed a spot in the middle of the dance circle and stayed there until we pulled her out! 

weekend review

Fall is coming around the bend and we are entering into a new phase of the year and a new kind of busy. No longer is it the "lazy hazy crazy days of summer" (that Nat King Cole song always reminds me of my Grandpa) but it's the fall: time rush to do things before it gets way too cold yet there is a more settled down and scheduled approach now that people are back to school and kids have real commitments during the day. Not mine of course.. no school for us yet. But you can't help but feel that "back to school" feeling in the air. I've been ready to get back on a schedule and wear a sweater and welcome the smells of pumpkin into my home. I'm ready to FALL.

Anyways, a few things from the beginning of September:

Caitlin started back up with dance class. I kept her at the same place, Center Stage Dance Studio. She moved up a class and is now in a 3-4 year old class that is combo ballet and tap. She has a new teacher, Mrs. Kim, and she is so excited to be back in there. She is definitely the smallest and youngest in her class but she is a good listener and stays on task and tries her best. I love watching her and Nolan just roams around the studio and drives cars around the floor.

Caitlin and Paul went on a "Daddy Daughter Date" as a belated celebration for Caitlin's birthday. They got dinner, went to see a movie (had the theater to themselves) and got treats. They were both beaming when they got back. They had both been really looking forward to it and I heard Caitlin tell he friends on several occasions that she was going to go on a special date with her daddy. 

Paul participated in the "Man Games" on September 7th. He was on a team of 8 with relatives and friends: Paul, Jordan McCullough, Steve Gottfredson, Matt Gottfredson, Josh Gottfredson, Grant Callister, Taylor Turnbull and Nick Hansen. The man games is similar to a "Tough Mudder" or obstacle course type even but is done in events opposed to a relay or full course. It included water events, an obstacle course, pig wrestling and mounted spear throwing. All of our men did very well and even took the fastest time in the pig wrestling. It was fun to watch them and hear all of the behind the scenes stories afterward.

 We got rain in Provo and there was flash flooding and as we were on our way to the football games (which got delayed over an hour) we saw people kayaking in the mall parking lot:

We attended the BYU vs. University of Texas football game. We thought we really had it figured out this time: two years ago we went to Texas but cheered on our cougars only to have them lose. This time we decided to just cheer for the "winning team" and support the Longhorns. Well, turns out the cougars had an amazing game and completely trampled the 'horns with a 00-00 victory. It was a win/win in most ways, and a fun game over all.

 

Nolan: 15 months old

Nolan is a full fledged little boy and just his own little person. He has the cutest little personality and is so fun to have around. He is so different from Caitlin and I constantly find myself wondering what he will be like as he gets older and what is going on in his little head. He is genuinely a happy boy though and a good little boy. I fall more in love with him everyday and I just can't get over how dang cute he is!
Nolan's stats from his 15 month appointment:
height: 32 inches (85%)
weight: 27 lbs. (94%)
*Just an interesting fact: I took Caitlin in for her 3 year appointment at the same time and got all of her measurements and right now the two of them are only 4 pounds and 4 inches different from each other.

Here are a few things about Nolan at 15 months:
-He is walking 100% of the time. Mid August (when he was about 14.5 months old) the switch flipped and he decided to be a little walker full time. He does a good job walking and he's so cute to watch toddle around. He fall sometimes but it doesn't seem to bother him.
-He is talking more and more. Still not a ton. I did a survey at the doctor's and based on how i answered the questions they said his communication is a little behind. It's not that he is quiet, it's just that he hasn't started coming up with and forming words on his own a lot. But he definitely knows what he wants and figures out how to get it. And he does say some words: baba (bottle), buh buh (bye bye), hi, please, ball, woof woof, quack quack
-He has gotten a ton of new teeth lately, including 2 more on the bottom and 2 of his molars. Consequently he is almost always drooling and a little bit more fussy than usual sometimes but overall he's a champ with the teeth.
-Church is hard with him. We are all ready for nursery but have a few more months to go. We discovered this last week that he can push the sacrament doors open by himself and go out into the hallway... that made for an exciting first hour.
-He is such a wanderer! He just goes wherever he wants to go and doesn't have a care in the world as to whether anyone else is following or knows where he is. We have let him stray a few times while we've watched him to see if he gets any sort of realization that he's alone and needs to come back and every single time we've had to just eventually go get him.
-He is really strong but also very agile. He's always been a big boy but always had a good grip on how to move around and has wanted to move and be active.
-He is very rough and tumble and hardly ever gets hurt. Well, what i mean is he gets hurt a lot but he hardly ever shows pain. He doesn't cry very often or make a big fuss he just whines a little and then wants to carry on doing whatever he was doing. The other day at a friends house he was going out their back door and there is a step down from the door to the deck. He didn't know so he did a faceplant out the door and then rolled over to his back and didn't even cry but was just laying there whimpering a few times. When i tried to pick him up he pushed me a away and just started walking around. He has also fallen down the stairs twice in the last month and both times he cried for about 2 minutes then wanted to get down and play again. I don't tell these stories to brag about how much he gets hurt (breaks my heart and it sounds like I'm not paying attention to him but i promise i am!) I just tell them to illustrate how rough and tumble he is. He is so tough.
-The only time he cries or yells is when he wants something he can't have. Like something dangerous or if a toy gets taken away from him. Then he gets very possessive.
-His little moments of mischief scare me because he is so quiet. And he's such a good climber and even if something were to happen he wouldn't make that big of a deal about it and then just go right back to trying again. I have found him in the darndest places and I'm so perplexed as to how he got there.
-He still loves his "baba" and drinks a bottle 3 times a day.
-He takes a long nap in the afternoon (from about 2:30-5:30) but sometimes he still likes to snag a little power nap in the morning, usually in the car.
-He is not a picky eater as long as he's in the mood for it and recently he has wanted to only feed himself. He wont take things off a spoon at all and sometimes wants to even do the spoon or fork himself.
-He has an excellent stink face that he shows if he ever doesn't like something or gets woken up too early.

neither here nor there

last month of summer thrills through my instagram feed:

joys of motherhood: august

Caitlinisms:

-We were all in the car together and Paul an I were joking about something and I responded "No, we're not white trash!" A few minutes later when Paul walked around to get Caitlin out of her car seat he opened her door and she said "Dad, I'm not white trash!"

-Caitlin lovingly hung up all her tutus in her closet:

 -She likes to sing the song "If you chance to meet a frown..." and this is her frowny face:

-I may have mentioned this before but whenever I can't get her to eat I put her lunch in a muffin tin and put little things in each cup and she gets a treat in one if she finished all her other things. She loves eating stuff like this.

-We were at the Dinosaur museum and Caitlin turned the corner before me and shouted "look mom it's a roly poly": (I personally think she was pretty close)

-calls "pirates booty" (the puffed popcorn stuff) = pouty booty

-Everything is "kinda" for Caitlin (ex: I'm kinda tired, I'm kinda hungry, He's kinda funny...) the other day she and Nolan were standing in the hall at church and an older man cam and started talking to them. He said hi to Caitlin and asked her a few questions and then turned to Nolan and said "hey little man" to which Caitlin piped up and said "umm, he's kinda Nolan."

-We sing Princess songs pretty much anytime we are in the car and Caitlin actually knows them pretty well until the other day she decided to do her own rendition of the Cinderella song "no matter how your heart is grieving".... = "no matter how your fart is bleeding" ouch.

-The other day in the store Caitlin announced she needed to "Go PEEP!"

me: "you need to peep?"

C: "yes! I need to go PEEP in the potty!" 

-While eating goldfish Caitlin was looking at the box and pointed to this little picture of the cabin:

She asked incredulously: "Is that their house?! Is that where ALL the goldfish live?!"

-A lot of people have told us Caitlin speaks well for her age. I don't really know because I don't have much to compare it to but I feel like she does well. She almost always speaks in full sentences when she is asking or answering a question. She rarely will just say "yah" or "ok" it's always "i do." or "i will." It makes me laugh. Although she still pronounces her Ls as Ws.

Nolan man:

-Nolan LOVES hats. Anything he can make into a hat he will, including bowls, boxes, headbands and actual hats of all shapes and sizes.

-He also loves to play in the bath tub and will dive in water or no water.

 -Nolan loves to climb up on the chair and on top of table. Hence we have resorted to keeping our chairs against the kitchen wall. He still climbs up on them but not onto the table.

Whenever I do catch him on top of the table I'll say "Nolan!" and he looks at me and shakes his head and says "no no no" Because he knows he's not supposed to me up there. Sometimes he gets down and sometimes he gives a little smile and looks away and keep doing what he's not supposed to be doing.

-Nolan won't always wave on command but he likes at random things. Cars, animals, the random passerby. Once he starts he doesn't stop. And he likes to say "buh buh" for bye and wave.

6 year anniversary celebrations

Our 6th year wedding anniversary was July 27th. We had a pretty scattered celebration this year:

On the actual day we had a "family date" to Thanksgiving point. We had breakfast, went to the farm, saw the animals, had pony rides and then went to a fun dinner that night. We had a great day as a family.

This year for our getaway tradition Paul and I decided to check Colorado off the list. Because of date changes and previous plans, we went to Denver by way of Deer Valley over the labor day weekend.

(**In an unfortunate turn of events, I lost all of the pictures I took on my phone of this trip! Therefore I am left with some from Paul's phone and a very few from my actual camera. bleh!)

The goal of this trip was to rest, relax and recharge:
Friday night we headed up to Deer Valley and stopped at Ruth's Chris for some molten chocolate cake. Chocolate cake is a good way to kick off any anniversary trip if you ask me. We stayed in a condo at the Red Stag Lodge just a minutes walk away from the Deer Valley resort and it was beautiful. And we had a hot tub on our porch. Yet another great way to kick off the trip.

Day 1: we had breakfast at Silver Star cafe which is right by one of the lifts for the Park City resort and it was nestled up in the mountain and so beautiful. Not to mention delicious. During the day we did some shopping and then had at early dinner at Zoom in Park City. This came highly recommended and did not disappoint! Plus our waiter was the phantom of the opera. Not kidding, he looked and sounded exactly like him except we could see his whole face.

After dinner we went to the One Republic concert at the Deer Valley amphitheater. Sara Bareilles opened for them and the night was a lot of fun. The surroundings were beautiful and the weather was great. The music was awesome. They sang all the songs I wanted to hear and it was so fun to sing along and hear some of my favorites. Plus we had the added entertainment bonus of mudslides: We sat right behind the middle walk way and there had been some rain earlier in the day which created some huge mud puddles.  They got very slippery especially over the course of the night and then when it got dark that added another layer of danger and people were slipping and falling right and left. We tried to warn most some of them but honestly it was pure entertainment watching people handle those slippery slopes.

Day 2: We flew to Denver and got to our hotel downtown. We stayed at the Four Seasons Denver and it was as nice as you would expect. We took full advantage of the amenities and just enjoyed the hotel. We went to the pool, the spa, dinner at the hotel's restaurant and then rented a movie in our room and snuggled in our hotel robes. While we were in the lobby waiting for dinner the emergency alarm went off the and the fire truck and firemen came in and had to check everything out. Weirdly enough absolutely no one seemed alarmed or to really even notice that this was all happening.

Day 3: Our last day we got room service breakfast, visited the pool again (we had great weather), had lunch poolside, visited the spa again, and then did a little exploring along the 16th street mall. We got dinner and then headed back home.

 
I'm so thankful for a husband who spoils me rotten and that after 6 years together I still love having him to myself for an entire weekend. I'm also so thankful to Bekah and Jordan for watching our kids! I'm pretty sure my kids wish they were their parents. They did such a great job.

Six years has flown by way too fast but I'm positive we have packed as much into as we ever could have. I love being married to Paul even more so today than 6 years ago.

calling all party animals...

Caitlin came into my room in the morning all ready in her party dress. No surprise there. We snuggled in bed for a little while and I told her the story of when she was born and we looked at her baby book together. She loved looking at all the pictures of when she was little and had me re-tell her birth story many times throughout the day.

Caitlin told me for her birthday this year, she wanted to take her friends to the zoo. So we did! We took about 11 adults and 14 kiddos to the zoo and had a blast. Unfortunately the weather didn't get the memo about our party and it was very overcast with drizzling on and off but it didn't seem to dampen too many spirits. We explored the zoo for awhile and then picked a (covered) spot for lunch and cupcakes and presents. It was a fun day and Caitlin was in heaven with her friends, the animals and cupcake frosting and opening gifts.

As we were watching the elephants Caitlin stood on her tip toes and yelled "hi elephant! it's my birthday! It's my birthday elephant!"

All the kids were given their little party box that had: an animal, crayons and a little coloring book, fruit snacks and a zoo passport with pictures of different animals. Every time they found an animal they got to have a sticker by that picture. Some of them got really into it and it was so cute. They also each got an animal mask to wear and they were too cute.

I think her favorite part was when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.

This was Nolan's second trip to the zoo (the first was when he was a tiny baby). He stayed in the stroller for the morning while it was more rainy but then came out towards the end and LOVED seeing the animals. As we were walking away from the giraffes, he was holding hands but then he stopped to turn back and wave. It was precious.

After the zoo we went straight home and changed into soccer clothes to go to Caitlin's first soccer game! That was an event! The kids all had a lot of fun. After the game we went home and had pizza and opened presents.

I'm thinking 3 will be a fun age for all of us.